Technical Corner: Rosé Wine

Founded in 1857 by Jesuit Priests who produced the country’s first dry red wine, Château Ksara is Lebanon’s oldest, largest and most visited winery, attracting some 70,000 visitors per year.

The overwhelming majority of rosé wines are made by using some of the color from the black grape skins, a process called short term maceration. The desired shade can range from pale blush to bright red, depending on the grapes and the style required by the winemaker. The juice can either be extracted either by “bleeding”, or pressing. All Château Ksara’s rosés – Sunset, Gris de Gris and Rosé de Ksara – are bled, a process also known as saignée. After maceration, the juice undergoes cold fermentation, and then racked-off. Once, the wine has stabilized, it is bottled.

Finally, a small number of producers make rosés by directly blending red and white wines, the most famous being those from Champagne where rosé sparkling wines are more often than not blended according to an official process. Rosé wines made by the blending have a much different character; yes they are pink, but all similarity stops there. An even smaller number of rosés are made by using a charcoal treatment to reduce the color of unwanted red wines